Tony Perkins (politician)
Anthony Richard Perkins (born March 20, 1963) is an American politician and Southern Baptist pastor, who has served as president of the Family Research Council since 2003. [1][2][3][4] Previously, he was a police officer and television reporter. From 1996 to 2004, he served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002. On May 14, 2018, he was appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom by then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and on June 17, 2019, the Commission elected him Chairman.[5][1]
Tony Perkins
Kenneth Connor
Tenzin Dorjee
Mike McCleary
Lawana Perkins
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Early life and career[edit]
Perkins was born and raised in the northern Oklahoma city of Cleveland and graduated in 1981 from Cleveland High School. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Liberty University.[6] He later earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. After college, Perkins entered the United States Marine Corps.[6] Following his tour of duty, he became a reserve deputy with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office and also worked with the U.S. State Department's Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program instructing hostage negotiation and bomb disposal to hundreds of police officers from around the world.[6][7][8]
After the federal contract for the anti-terrorism program ended, Perkins left law enforcement to work for KBTR, the Baton Rouge TV station owned by then-State Representative Woody Jenkins. At KBTR, Perkins opened a news division.[8]
Political career[edit]
Louisiana House of Representatives[edit]
Perkins won an open seat in the Louisiana House representing District 64 (the eastern Baton Rouge suburbs, including part of Livingston Parish) when he defeated Democrat Herman L. Milton of Baker 63% to 37% in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 21, 1995.[9][10] He was elected on a conservative platform of strong families and limited government. Four years later, he was reelected without opposition.[11] He retired from the legislature in 2004, fulfilling a promise to serve no more than two terms.[12][13]
While in office, Perkins authored legislation to require Louisiana public schools to install Internet filtering software, to provide daily silent prayer, and to prevent what he termed "censorship of America's Christian heritage".[14] Perkins also authored the nation's first covenant marriage law, a voluntary type of marriage that permits divorce only in cases of physical abuse, abandonment, adultery, imprisonment or after two years of separation.[6][15]
Perkins opposed casino gambling in Louisiana, calling a 1996 plan to restrict the location of gambling riverboats to one side of the river, "putting lipstick on a hog". It doesn't make the bill any better, it just looks a little better."[16] Perkins was described as "staunchly anti-abortion" by Public Broadcasting Service which also credited him with working on law and order and economic development issues while in the state house.[6] Perkins was instrumental in increasing state regulation of Louisiana abortion clinics; he sponsored a law to require state licensing and sanitary inspections.[2][17]
2002 U.S. Senate election[edit]
Perkins ran for the United States Senate in 2002 as a social and religious conservative Republican.[6] Louisiana's then-Governor, Murphy J. Foster Jr., and the National Republican Senatorial Committee backed other candidates.[6] Perkins finished in fourth place in the nonpartisan blanket primary with just under 10% of the vote.[2] The Democratic incumbent, Mary Landrieu, was re-elected in the general election against another Republican, Suzanne Haik Terrell.
USCIRF appointment[edit]
On May 14, 2018, he was appointed as one of nine commissioners to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).[5] His appointment was opposed by the Hindu American Foundation for his track record of "hateful stances against non-Christians."[18]
On June 17, 2019, the USCIRF elected Perkins as chair for the commission.[19] On June 16, 2020, he became the USCIRF vice chair.[20]
Political future[edit]
Perkins was floated as a potential Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate against Mary Landrieu in the 2014 election.[21] Despite strongly criticising Bill Cassidy, the main Republican challenger to Landrieu, as "pretty weak on the issues", Perkins said in an interview in January 2014 that he would not run against Landrieu. He did however express interest in running for David Vitter's U.S. Senate Seat, should Vitter be elected Governor of Louisiana in 2015.[22] Vitter lost the election and announced he would not run for re-election to the Senate, but Perkins declined to run in the 2016 election and endorsed John Fleming for the seat.[23]
Personal life[edit]
Perkins is married to Lawana Perkins (née Lee), with whom he has five children.[12] He also adopted 16-year-old Boko Haram-held captive, Nigerian Leah Sharibu.[19]
He has been affiliated with the National Rifle Association of America, the American Legion, the Christian Coalition, and the Baton Rouge Rescue Mission.[7] Perkins served as president of the Council for National Policy.[57]
Perkins' family was affected by the 2016 Louisiana floods, and had to evacuate their Louisiana home by canoe.[58][59]